Mark Maynard | community

The sprouts are coming up on the Water Street Commons!

By Mark | June 3, 2013

On Sunday afternoon, when the rain finally stopped coming down, the kids and I walked over to Water Street to do some weeding, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that a good number of our nearly 3,000 seed bombs had begun to sprout… I have no idea how long it will take before we [...]

Posted in Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged community coming together, community development, community organizing, community potlucks, defining community, native plants, New York City, parklets, plazas, public space, Riverside Park, Water Street, Water Street Commons | 7 Comments

May Day in Ypsilanti… a beautiful success

By Mark | May 1, 2013

I’m sunburnt and in much need of sleep, so this won’t be as exhaustive of a post as perhaps it should be. I did, however, want to say, before passing out, just how happy I am about the way things went today. What I saw unfold this afternoon on Water Street, I’m certain, will keep [...]

Posted in Agriculture, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged community coming together, community development, community organizing, community potlucks, defining community, Doug Coombe, seed bombing, Water Street | 30 Comments

Two Frenchies on what they love about Detroit’s “Do It Ourselves” culture, and why they’re making a film about it

By Mark | July 12, 2012

A few months ago, I received a nice note from two French filmmakers, who, for some reason, had stumbled across my site and liked it. Their names were Nora Mandray and Hélène Bienvenu, and, as I’d come to learn over the course of subsequent emails, they had been living in the the area for some [...]

Posted in Art and Culture, Detroit, Sustainability | Also tagged Arthur K. Peters Memorial Travel Grant, Beaubien, bikes, Caspar David Friedrich, Centre National de la Cinématographie, cities, community coming together, decent human community, decline, Detroit je t'aime, Detroit Soup, DIO, DIY, documentary film, Fender Bender, film making, France, French Film Institute, Fulbright scholars, generation Y, Grace Lee Boggs, hackers, Hantz Farms, Hungary, ingenuity, Kickstarter, La Croix, Lafayette, metaphors, Nora Mandray, Packard Plant, parables, Paris, Paris Institute of Political Studies, post-industrial era, Recycle Here, Romain Meffre, Romantism, ruin porn, self-reliance, soup, the Detroit situation, the future of American cities, the lessons of Detroit, the parable of Detroit, UCLA, urban farming, urban food system, urban living, urban renewal, utopias, Yves Marchand | 21 Comments

Ypsilanti Immigration Interview: Adam Gainsley

By Mark | March 15, 2012

A few weeks ago, as a part of our ongoing Ypsilanti Immigration Interview project, I spoke with a young woman named Gillian Ream, who had just recently moved to Ypsilanti from Ann Arbor with her software-developer boyfriend. Well, today’s interview is with said boyfriend, Adam Gainsley. Please join me in welcoming him to Ypsilanti. MARK: [...]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Politics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Adam Gainsley, apps. programming, Arbor Brewing Company, Bandemer Park, Barton Park, Beer Thirty, Beezy's, bike friendly, Bike Ypsi, bikes, Bird Hills, Border to Border Trail, Brown Park, Burns Park, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chick Inn, community activism, defining community, disk golf, entrepreneurship, Frog Island, Frog Island Music Festival, Gillian Ream, hackathons, hi-tech startups, Hill Auditorium, Holmes Road, Huron River, interviews, local income tax, Mary Beth Doyle Park, meet-ups, milkshakes, NMAC, Non-Motorized Advisory Committee, Non-Motorized Transportation Plan, programmers, programming, Pub 13, Ridge Road, Save Ypsi Yes, Scott's Coffee Break, Sidetrack, social media, software, Tech Brewery, University of Michigan, walkability, walkable downtown, Washtenaw Biking and Walking Coalition, Water Street, Water Street debt reduction millage, working from home, Ypsi immigration interview, Zydeco | 8 Comments

‘Escape from Vermont,’ by Chelsea Lowe

By Mark | September 13, 2011

As you may recall, I got pissed off a few weeks ago at House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for suggesting that funds not be allocated for relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Irene until such time that federal spending cuts were made elsewhere. I was particularly pissed off because a friend of mine, a [...]

Posted in OCD, Other, Uncategorized | Also tagged acts of God, Anni MacKay, Bethel Mountain Road, cell phones, Chelsea Lowe, coffins, community coming together, Creemees, disaster relief, Edgar Allan Woolf, Eric Cantor, extreme weather, Florence Ryerson, global climate change, Hurricane Irene, hurricanes, Larry Strauss, natural disasters, Noel Langley, Pittsfield, rain, Rochester, Ross Laffan, The Road, Vermont, Waterbury, Wizard of Oz | 8 Comments

Tag Archives: community

The sprouts are coming up on the Water Street Commons!

May Day in Ypsilanti… a beautiful success

Two Frenchies on what they love about Detroit’s “Do It Ourselves” culture, and why they’re making a film about it

‘Escape from Vermont,’ by Chelsea Lowe

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